Hometeam SWCL Basketball: Rams return to spread-the-scoring strategy

Saturday

Feb 2, 2013 at 6:00 AM

Carl Setterlund SWCL Basketball

It was anyone’s guess what perennial power Shepherd Hill Regional would look like this season with the graduation of last year’s Central Mass. scoring champion, Meghan Fornaro. Longtime coach Jim Hackenson said he had 25 points per game to replace — actually, it was more like 22.5 — and that search for scoring has led to the return of Hackenson’s spread-it-around formula of teams past.

“When we went to the (2009 Division 1) state final and the leading scorer had 11 points, Meghan was on that team, she was a freshman,” Hackenson said. “It was spread out, 11 points, 10 points, nine points, eight points, and this team is a lot like that. Not that it’s a (state) finalist, but it’s a little more widespread, and everybody has the potential to score. I tell this to them and everyone else: They all have the green light, just don’t take advantage of it.”

His captains, seniors Taylor Daniels and Tina Gauvin, average only roughly eight points each, but the No. 8 Rams (10-3, 10-1 SWCL) have six regular scorers.

“We just need to work together more, pass it around and not rely on one person,” said Gauvin, a 5-foot-5 guard. “We have to rely on the team and all five players.”

Of the the team’s two most experienced players, Daniels is Hackenson’s only four-year varsity member, while Gauvin has been up since her sophomore season.

“Freshman year, when we won districts, just playing on that team of Ali Tyburski, Meg Boutillette, Mary Barbale, Meg Fornaro, I’m so glad I had that experience,” Daniels said.

Classmate Johanna “JoJo” L’Heureux leads an undersized frontcourt, but at 5-foot-9, she is the Rams’ tallest player and best bet against opposing 6-footers.

“(Sophomore) Ciara McKissick has really stepped up this year,” Daniels said. “We go to her and JoJo for the bulk of our points from underneath the hoop. They’re the two bigger bodies that we use to kind of body up the other team.”

Because of their lack of height, the Rams rely on athleticism — nearly every player plays multiple sports — to be more active and outwork their opponent.

“I think I can play a full-court game and not lose much when I substitute,” said Hackenson, who experimented with going to his bench earlier than usual in a 50-25 win over Uxbridge High on Wednesday. “As long as they continue to improve, it’s going to be better for our team. The kids will be more rested, especially in an up-tempo game, which we want to play. We want to play the full court.”

The wild card is 5-foot-7 junior Brooke Packard (11.4 points per game). Known for scoring in bunches — “She can reel off some points real fast,” says Hackenson — Packard has scored 14 or more points in more than half of Shepherd Hill’s games.

That includes big games in a six-point loss to No. 5 Algonquin Regional in the Rams’ opener and a recent seven-point loss to undefeated Quaboag Regional, ranked third in the Hometeam media poll. Hackenson said the loss that still sticks in their craw, though, was a 46-22 drubbing versus top-ranked Holy Name two weeks ago, the only game in which Shepherd Hill was outclassed.

“We went up on them in the beginning of the game, and then we just went stone cold,” Hackenson said. “That was a defining moment as far as where we stand with the higher echelon of the Division 1 schools. We played Algonquin fairly tough, and we played Quaboag tough, and those are the quality teams.”

Shepherd Hill will have more chances to score its first big win over a Division 1 opponent with a game against Shrewsbury High and a rematch with the Naps still to come before closing out the regular season at the Westboro Tournament.

If high school basketball is a guard’s game, then it’s not so surprising that the Uxbridge boys have made a recent turnaround, rejoining the SWCL elite as senior guards Mark DeVries and Kenny Paulhus have led them to consecutive wins over two of the stronger SWCL teams — Northbridge and Shepherd Hill.

The Spartans (11-3, 9-3) had lost two of their previous three, dropping road games to Southbridge and Bartlett at the start of a six-game road stretch.

Paulhus (17.8 points per game) and DeVries (16.5) are top 10 scorers in SWCL and have combined for 57 percent of Uxbridge’s scoring this season.

DeVries, who reached his 1,000th career point in the Bartlett loss on Jan. 22, is the taller of the two mighty mites by an inch, measuring 5-foot-10.

The Bartlett High boys (12-4, 11-2) will enter Tuesday’s 7 p.m. home game against Quaboag (11-3, 9-3) with an extra chip on their shoulder.

The Indians came into their first matchup back in early January riding a seven-game winning streak and fresh off a 104-point outburst against Southbridge. The Cougars snapped that streak in a shocking 56-40 shutdown.

It was the fewest points (by 16) for Bartlett, the second-highest scoring team in Central Mass., behind only Littleton, at 71.2 per game.

The Indians were not able to stop Quaboag’s top weapons, though, as senior Thomas Jankins and sophomore Jake Wisniewski combined for 44 points.

Contact Carl Setterlund at sports@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @tgsports